Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

As OLF-8 master planning starts, leaders look at how to gather public input in COVID-19 era

The master planning process for Escambia County's 640-acre OLF-8 property is now underway, and project leaders are developing ways to ensure public input, despite social distancing guidelines in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Staff at DPZ, a design firm selected for the master planning process, as well as other consultants, presented Thursday morning to Escambia County Commissioners about how the master planning process will look. The plan will guide development for the property, which is meant to bring in high-paying jobs.

The county acquired Navy Outlying Field 8, which was previously used as a naval training airfield, in a land swap with the Navy in 2019.The property is in the growing Beulah area adjacent to Navy Federal Credit Union's main campus.

Buy Photo

Escambia County acquired OLF-8, which was previously used as a naval training airfield, in a land swap with the Navy in 2019.(Photo: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com)

Marina Khoury, with DPZ, laid out a nine-month timeline to the commissioners as she presented virtually Thursday. The first phase will include gathering data on the economic, environmental and fiscal impacts of a potential development and will be followed by a design phase and implementation strategy phase.

Throughout the entire process, Khoury said, staff will be gathering community input.

That job is more difficult because of current social distancing guidelines calling for people to remain in groups of 10 or fewer. If eventually allowed, a public meeting called a charrette would likely be planned between late August and mid-September.

"We do think that however this charrette happens, whether it's in person there, partly in person (and) part remote, there's going to be people who are not going to be comfortable to come into a public forum and maybe engaging with us when they know that there's more than 50 or 60 people in the room," Khoury said. "We recognize that there's going to have to be certain remote elements to how the charrette is managed."

To help with the issue, consultants are working on an online engagement platform so the public can log on, watch designers work live or hear consultant presentations and stakeholder interviews and give feedback.

"What I've noticed with the virtual charrette we've been doing is that there's a greater level of public participation," Khoury said. "This may be something that endures post-COVID anyway. It's easy for people to be able to log on and off even if it's for a short period of time."

Buy Photo

Escambia County acquired OLF-8, which was previously used as a naval training airfield, in a land swap with the Navy in 2019.(Photo: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com)

Travis Peterson, with consultant Impact Campaigns, told the board he will be working to gather input from all sorts of stakeholders, from the neighborhood associations near OLF-8 to residents county-wide who may have an interest in the project.

Part of how he plans to do that is by educating residents about the property and its possibilities through connecting with local media and sharing information with the county's community relations department.

"Letting them know 'Hey, here's where your input is being used. Here's the team working on the engineering plans or the site plans,' so that we're able to really make sure that the citizens know and you and county staff are able to keep your constituents informed," Peterson said.

Khoury said the online platform will also help staff pinpoint if there's a certain demographic group or neighborhood from which they're not receiving input. She also acknowledged, however, that a digital platform can create equity issues, preventing those who can't access the internet to give feedback.

"We're committed to also reaching out in the non-digital ways to engage with people who may not have access to computers. Sometimes just a basic phone call is the best way to reach folks," Khoury said.

Commissioner Jeff Bergosh, who represents the Beulah area, said because it's a jobs-focused development, the OLF-8 project is not just for residents of his district. He wants to hear input from a wide-variety of county residents.

"This is a jobs project. We have to create jobs. That's how we recoup the money we've invested," Bergosh said. "This isn't just a project for Beulah, I guess is what I'm going to leave you with. This is a county-wide investment, a county-wide project."